A Summer Camp Like No Other
by FandomSpawn
Summary: In where a normal everyday kid is sent off to one hell of a summer camp, expected to do things she wouldn't normally do back at home in the city. (This fic will follow the show's timeline and if any ideas strike, short stories of weirdness not in the show will also be added!) Rated T because this is Camp Camp; you should know the reason. Cover image by my friend, Square Lolipop!
1. Escape From Camp Campbell

**A/N:** (Guess who's now in the Camp Camp fandom.) Okay, anyways, this author's note will explain some things about the fanfiction. As I have been told that reader insert types of fanfics are not allowed, I am not able to do those traditionally anymore. The only alternative is to use an OC in the readers place. So instead of putting in Y/N, I have replaced it with Yuni, my sort of "OC". She fills in the role of the reader but because this isn't a reader insert per say, she's more of a controlled character. This means that she looks however you want her to look like, but most things that would normally be up to the reader aren't available to be changed to _really_ fit the reader. Does that makes sense? So, I'll try and keep her character descriptions to a minimum. Second thing, when Yuni writes in her travel journal those notes will be in bold. Hopefully this makes reading the fic a lot clearer. Now stop reading this note and enjoy!

* * *

"It's the start of summer and what do they do? Send me off to camp... when did I ever say I'd 'love, love, love!' to come to some damn camp..."

Yuni grumbled at her reflection in the window. She knew her parents were planning something as soon as they put her to bed early last night. They let her pack her phone and headphones as a don't-start-fighting-with-us bribe. At least they know how to read the atmosphere.

The bus was dingy and quiet. She seemed to be the only one on, aside from what might as well be a body bag and the driver. Taking out her travel journal, something she never leaves without, Yuni simply writes,

 **Hook for a hand. Cool, but stay at least 5 ft away from.**

Looking back outside, Yuni watches the trees pass by, blurring from a lack of focus until the bus stops abruptly. Face, meet tacky seat leather!

While recovering, Yuni notices two other riders walk towards the front of the bus. 'I thought I was the only one riding this disgusting thing..." She shrugs, picks up her travel journal (she had dropped it when the bus jerked her forward. That's what she gets for not wearing the seat belt.) and makes her way to the front.

"Kids are here." the bus driver says.

Yuni opens her journal and adds to her previous notes,

 **Probably hates his job.**

First of the three to get off was a little girl with the green-est hair you've ever seen. Most of her hair seems to have been shaven off except for the small tuft in the front. The rest of her hair was tied into curly pigtails. She breathes in the air vigorously and then praises the wonders of nature. The journal is opened again.

 **I have found my opposite. Which, I guess, means I'll like her?**

A much taller person walks by and greets the girl. He must've been the reason the bus stopped, seeing as he just crawled out from under it.

"Well, hello there little lady! You must be Nikki. My name is David." Well, that answers two questions. Yuni writes down "Nikki" next to her notes and "David on a separate page. On the David page, she writes,

 **Super cheerful (at least as far as I know). Might be a tool; the blackmailing would be easy.**

As she finishes her last sentence, Yuni slams her journal shut when high-pitched screaming erupts from David. It appears that Nikki has bitten him. Yuni watches the chaos for a while, the other kid walking off the bus steps.

"Excuse me," The screaming stops. "Is this Science Camp?" The journal is flipped open yet again.

 **Total nerd alert. He's even skinny/lanky to top it off! A genuine Jeremy Heere (Minus the Squip, of course).**

The three continue to converse with each other, paying Yuni no mind. It didn't really matter to her though; she was too busy with her records. Catching the name 'Neil", she writes it down next to her nerd notes.

"David, there's still someone left." A different voice spoke up. Yuni looks to the entrance of camp to see another boy. He was about Nikki's size and looked bored as hell. He wore a sweater despite it being hot outside. Another page in the journal reads,

 **My equal? Seems pretty angsty with the whole half-lidded eye thing. But I don't think I'm angsty...**

"Oh! My apologies. You must be Yuni." David walks over to the bus ('Why haven't I gotten off yet? Stupid...') and holds out a hand. Yuni ignores the gesture and hops off herself, opening the journal to write "Camp Camp" on the "Sucky Vacation" title page.

Turning around to face the adult, Yuni raises one hand and says, "Hey. Now what's the WiFi password?"

David chuckles. "We don't have WiFi, silly! We're in the middle of nowhere after all."

Before Yuni could answer, the bus backs up, knocking David off his feet again. Looking into the bus, the bus driver picks up the angsty boy from before by the hook and tells him that he was the only one driving for today.

"Ugh. Thank you, Quartermaster." The name gets put into the journal with the hook hand notes. "Max you will not leave my side for the rest of the day." The name Max is also put into the journal.

Ignoring Max's retort, David turns back to the girl in question. "Now, which camp were you signed up for?" He blinks, waiting for an answer.

Yuni stares back at him, looking lost. He literally just got run over by a bus and recovered like nothing happened. "What the fuck is going on at this camp?" was her follow up question. Something shady's going on here and she could feel it. I mean, the Quartermaster took out a bottle of poison and said he was going for a refreshment break!

David looked nervous. "Nothing's going on around here... I think?"

"Don't trust him. There's definitely shit that goes on here." Max glares at David.

The latter clears his throat and chuckles awkwardly. "Now let's go check out the camp, kids!"

* * *

David leads the way, talking about when he was a camper and basically sounding old.

"So! What're you here for? Did you sign up for Adventure Camp too?" Nikki attempts to strike up a conversation while the boys listen along.

Yuni laughs half-heartedly. "Hell no. I'm more of an indoors person. You can stick me in front of a screen and I would never speak to you again for the day."

Nikki frowns. "That's awful! You should get out more! It can be exciting if you try hard enough."

"You sound like my mom on the weekends. I don't even know why my parents sent me here. Guess if I'm not home it means less money they have to spend on my needs..." Yuni trails off, grimacing. Parents can be such dicks...

David busts open the door of the mess hall to be met with utter chaos. Catching the name Gwen, Yuni writes it down on yet another page.

Taking in the scene, she sees another adult (that must be Gwen) throwing silverware at a kid in some astronaut get-up who is hanging from the ceiling fan. She spots the bully (or she just labeled the big, mean-looking kid the bully stereotypically), the obviously gay theater kid, the cool girl with headphones ('I'll just ask her for the WiFi...') and three other campers with indistinguishable stereotypes. It bothers her that she couldn't categorize everyone. That makes recording that much harder. How is she supposed to benefit off of them if she can't figure out their character? Yuni sigh heavily.

"What is going on here?" looking over to her left, Yuni sees Neil ask Max if he's made correct life choices.

"I'm telling you, if we leave right now, I can hot wire that bus." That sounds like a good escape plan. If she snuck out right now and got back on the bus she could leave for herself.

'Thank you, Max. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to get out of here. If I was nicer, I would've let you and your friends come with me, but oh well.' And with that, she slipped out of the mess hall, grateful for Nikki's unintentional distraction.

* * *

"Makin' a break for it? I can make a distraction for you."

Max looks back at Nikki impatiently uninterested. "And why would you help us?"

"I'm an agent of chaos." Turning around, Nikki gets David's attention and "asks" him to play that song he keeps mentioning, to which he pleasantly complies, distracting himself.

"Ooooohhh,  
There's a place I know that's tucked away,  
A place where you and I can stay,  
Where we can go to laugh and play  
And have adventures every day!  
I know it sounds hard to believe but guys and gals it's true,  
Camp Campbell is the place for me and-"

"The kids are gone." Gwen interrupts. Let the goose chase begin.

* * *

"How do you start this damn thing?!" Yuni's never actually driven a bus, much less start up one (the closest she could get to driving were free parking games and Mario Kart). "How the hell does he know how to hot wire a bus?" That info really puts into perspective just how many times he's tried to escape.

As she quietly weighs her options on whether or not to wait for the new trio, Yuni looks up to see colorful dots in the distance coming closer to the bus, seemingly chasing each other. Upon close inspection, the dots just happen to be the adults chasing after the three campers, Neil in the lead.

"Ugh... Just my luck." She wanted to go back to the city on her own, but the world had other plans.

It was only a few seconds until the three campers hopped back onto the bus, having knocked the adults down with the stupid pin. Nikki spots Yuni in the drivers seat.

"Hope you're a good driver 'cuz we're getting outta here!" She grins at the end, the bandage on her face peeling off slightly.

"Remember this face, David, cause you'll never see it again!" Max turns around and in a split second, the bus starts up. "Floor it!"

Reacting quickly, Yuni pushes the gas pedal and rides down the road uneasily as Max maniacally laughs in the background. Then, the bus stops and the sheriff comes out of his car. "Aw shit..."

"At least you tried and that's what counts, right?" Nikki assures.

"C'mon kids. We're going back to camp." There were groans and grumbling as the sheriff pushes everyone back to his car.

* * *

"I'm gettin' real tired of having to come up here, David."

"I know, Sal..." Sal doesn't get a page. He's not that important...

Yuni stands next to the bus feeling defeated but proud on the inside. She doesn't let the pride show.

"We were so close!" Max sounds irritated by his failed escape. Glaring at the getaway driver only earns a shrug back.

"Well, in hindsight, none of us really know how to drive." Yuni quietly debates with Neil in her thoughts.

"Yeah. Honestly kids, how far did you expect to make it?" Yuni had expected to at least leave camp grounds. She didn't really know where she was going, actually.

"Well kids, I hope you all learned something today-" David's moral lecture was cut off by the local smart mouth.

"Oh no. I hope YOU learn something, David. I hope you learn that before today, you only had _one_ little bastard to deal with." Max points at himself with his thumbs to say that "yes, I am that self-proclaimed bastard".

"But now, you have us." He then gestures to the other three escapees, huddling Nikki and Neil to his side (they were the closest he could reach with his prepubescent arms). "Let's go guys. I'll show you to our tents."

"Hey, Newbie!" Max makes a follow-me gesture.

"My name is Yuni." The girl answers back in annoyance.

"What'd I say?" He replies with a smirk.

The Max page reads,

 **The wild card. Keep an observant eye on him.**


	2. Mascot

"And here we have our time-honored camp mascot, Larry the Hamster." The hamster cage was put up in front of the mess hall. Why there was a need for a mascot was beyond any reason Yuni could come up with. "Say hi, Larry!"

David walked around the cage to stand behind the hamster and gave it a squeaky voice.

"Hi there, campers! I hope you're ready to have fun today! Don't forget to respect David and everything he does for you!"

Walking back around to face the campers, David fakes his surprise. "Oh! He talked! Did you hear that?!"

"We may be kids, but we're not dumb, David." Yuni remarks with a yawn.

"Uhhhh... well-"

"Ahem." The campers all turn to face Max and his masterfully-built Rube Goldberg contraption.

Watching in awe, Nikki slowly leans over to Yuni and whispers, "I bet that rock's going to hit the hamster."

High-pitched squealing soon fades away as poor Larry is launched to the next island over.

"Called it."

"Bye-bye, Larry." one of the other campers say, waving.

* * *

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why you gotta put that shit on us? We don't work here."

"Well, Max, we were going to make hand-made ice cream, but _someone_ killed our mascot and now we need a new one becAUSE EVERY GOOD CAMP HAS A MASCOT, MAX!" David takes deep breaths before reeling back to his usual self.

Updated notes on the David and Max pages are as follows:

 **David**

 **Tries way too hard to stick to old traditions**

 **Max**

 **Guessing he either gets yelled at a lot to the point it doesn't faze him or he just doesn't care about David's feelings.**

* * *

"I need a break from David, just one day. Just one..." Max rubs his temples to fend off a growing "headache".

The world decides to give Max what he wants, sending the Quartermaster into view. He was lugging a bloody bag behind him.

 **Quartermaster**

 **Murderer? It's that, or he just caught our lunch.**

"Hey, David!"

"Yes, Max?" David looks up hopefully, wondering if the beauty of camp has finally gotten through to Max.

"Why don't you have the quartermaster take half of us?" Yuni almost laughs at the Quartermaster's expression. Seen a ghost, old man?

"That's a great idea, Max! He's such a beloved member of our family. I would love for you all to get to know him better!"

 **David**

 **The easy blackmailing is confirmed.**

As Yuni records her life away, our favorite trio discuss the soon-to-be field trip with the Quartermaster.

"You SERIOUSLY want to go in the woods with the bad guy from every horror movie EVER?!" Neil expresses with actual concern.

"Yeah, he's gonna turn you into a skin suit." Nikki adds in.

"Calm down, it'll be fine. Besides, anything is better than hanging with David..." Max ends the conversation with a "I wish he never existed" face.

"Alright, who else would like to embark on a friendship walk? Who knows, maybe some of our esteemed quartermaster's wisdom will rub off on you!" Yuni snorts into her journal. Only thing that's gonna rub off is the blood on his hands from before.

Everyone takes a step back, all except for Max and an unaware Yuni.

"Alrighty then! Max and Yuni will be our trail-blazers!" David announces.

"Wait, WHAT." Yuni closes her journal with an audible clap.

"I'm so proud! Everyone else is Team David! Everyone keep your eyes peeled! You'll never know what you'll find!" David heads off with the rest of the campers in search of the new mascot.

"Well, I guess you're going with the Quartermaster route. Can't say you've made a good choice." Max tells Yuni as they begin walking.

"I didn't agree to this shit." She grumbles back.

* * *

"Psst."

Neil, now free from David's stupidity, follows the noise into the bushes where Nikki points to bear tracks.

"I smell a mascot! C'mon, let's go!" She grabs Neil by the hand and runs off following the track.

"This isn't what the buddy system is for!"

 **(Meanwhile...)**

'I knew this was a bad idea. Should've ran away while I still could...' But no, Yuni reassures herself, everything is going to be okay... right?

"Look man, we can just go back to camp and relax. Gwen can be the mascot."

The Quartermaster stops walking, causing Max to get a face full of old man butt.

"You kids think you're so SMART!" The Quartermaster jerks his head forward menacingly.

"OKAY! Move back three steps PLEASE!" Yuni hides her face behind her journal to keep her personal space bubble intact.

He complies and continues his spiel. "You need to see BEYOND the camp. Into the true beauty of nature!"

Well, it's more like creepiness rather than beauty.

'Which is why I would rather be home...'

"Uh... this looks like the place where teenagers go to get stabbed." Yuni nods at Max's statement.

"Probably." the Quartermaster shrugs.

The two campers look at each other wondering who will be killed first.

* * *

"NOOOHOOO..." Nikki whines. Turns out the bear track belonged to a bear who died a long time ago. "I would've fed it porridge. And it would've been just right!"

Neil sighs, relieved that they wouldn't have to run from a raging bear today. "Oh well, I guess we should turn around and go back to live a normal life."

But Camp Campbell doesn't do normal.

Right when the two turn around, a quack is heard, followed by hissing. A platypus emerges from the darkness.

"Psh, what's that?" Nikki asks, still bummed out about the dead bear. "Doesn't look very cool."

"That's a platypus." Neil replies. "It's actually quite dangerous. I think it has a little poison spur on it's hind-"

"POISONOUS?!" Neil is pushed aside as Nikki gets closer to the animal. "Awesome! You're comin' with mama!"

But the platypus would not come without a fight. The creature balanced itself on its tail to match Nikki's height and bared its teeth, hissing.

"Whoa! Too feisty!" Nikki says, smiling.

"Run!" Neil shouts, getting to his feet. "Don't let it kick you!"

Both campers run out of the cave screaming, angry platypus hot on their trail.

* * *

The three had been walking in the woods for a while now, the campers fearing what would happen next.

"Hey," Max attempts at starting a conversation again. "So how'd you lose that hand anyway?"

The Quartermaster mumbles most of his words, the only ones that could be heard were, "an' the JEWS." before he went back to mumbling.

Max and Yuni look at each other, unsure. Yuni writes down "Something to do with Jews?" on the Quartermaster page.

"I feel like you should be more specific..." Max replies, his voice rising a few notes higher than usual.

The Quartermaster stops in front of a hedge wall. "We're here." He turns around to face the kids, switching from his candle holder attachment back to the ol' hook.

Max hides behind the taller camper (she's really only taller by a few inches). "Make a skin suit out of her! She's probably a much better fit anyways."

"Why you-!" But before any choice insults could leave Yuni's mouth, the Quartermaster slashes the hedge wall and reveals the forest equivalent of an oasis.

Birds are chirping, critters roam in the trees and on the ground. Flowers bloom in bushes that line the way to a throne carved from wood. The sun was shining through and a rainbow topped everything off. Yuni swore she could hear angels singing or something.

"It's..." she started, breathless.

"Beautiful..." Max finished, equally in awe.

The Quartermaster walked up to the throne where there sat a squirrel king. He had a little acorn crown and everything. Max and Yuni watched from behind, eyes wide and sparkly. Even the Quartermaster showed some feeling. And just as things were finally getting better...

 _Ssshk_

His hook went straight through its chest, blood splattering onto his shirt.

"Mascot." was his only reply.

Yuni and Max stared with open mouths at the sight of the Quartermaster, blood on his face and shirt, dead squirrel hanging on his hook.

"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Yuni says softly. Even the gore-y stuff back in the city couldn't compare to this cruelty.

"DUDE! YOU FUCKING KILLED IT!" Max cries out, trying to keep his distance from the already bloody hook.

"...Oh." was the Quartermaster's response. He then proceeded to take the acorn crown off of the corpse and place it atop his own head.

The other animals had started to fight back against their new king.

"I AM YOUR KING NOW!" The Quartermaster yells, punching and elbowing the little critters with ease. "THE THRONE IS MINE!"

* * *

"Alright, everyone! Let's take a look at our candidates!" David scans the potential mascots and finds himself frowning. They aren't nearly as good as Larry, but at least the kids were trying.

"I have something!" David brings his attention to Harrison, Magic Club's aspiring illusionist. "Look and be amazed!" Out of his hat, he pulls out a white bunny by its leg.

"Harrison, that's incredible!" David compliments.

"Is it? Or is it..." Harrison puts the bunny back into the hat. "Magic?" He shows David the inside of his hat to reveal that the bunny has now vanished. "Ta-da!"

"Wh-where did it go?! Bring it back!"

"Oh... I don't know how. This is kinda why I'm here." Harrison replies with a shrug.

Faint screaming turns into loud screaming (and laughter from Nikki). Neil tells everyone to run and David hurriedly leads the kids to the pier. They all stop by the end with nowhere else to go.

"Where do we go now?!" Neil asks frantically.

"I don't know! This was a really bad idea in hindsight!" David answers, just as scared.

The platypus inches closer, growling with each step.

"I WANT A VIKING'S FUNERAL! LIGHT ME UP!" Nikki shouts, all caught up in the moment of adrenaline.

But the moment was over just as quickly as it started, with Gwen grabbing the platypus by the tail.

"What the hell is going on?!" she asks impatiently.

"We're... finding a mascot?"

Gwen looks over to the platypus in her hand. "...Why do you always have to make things weird and complicated?" She sounds really tired with her voice wavering.

"Well, I mean, I think this is all pretty normal..." New camp motto should be 'Average? Hell no! Not at Camp Campbell!' A fanfare is heard suddenly as the Quartermaster is brought back to camp on his own wood carved throne, both campers in tow with the old king still dead hanging from the hook.

Everyone watches in awe, eyes slowly following the quartermaster and his throne. Once the fanfares have stopped, Gwen looks about ready to die in her sleep.

"...I need more Midol." Maybe if the cramps went away, everything else out there would too.

"Well! Seeing as I just accidentally stepped on the caterpillar and a tin can would be ridiculous, I guess the platypus is our new mascot!"

The platypus gave a disgruntled quack as its own response.

"So, what'd you two do?" Nikki asks as Max and Yuni make their way back.

"We don't actually know." Yuni sighs, feeling a bit better after the squirrel murder.

"I think he tried to teach us a lesson?" Max replies, scratching his head.

"...What, like about nature?" Neil questions.

The two campers just shrug not really sure about what the fuck they witnessed.

"Look! Ind zhe vater!" one of the campers calls out.

Swimming up out of the water was the old mascot, Larry. The small hamster was leaving a water trail and panting heavily.

"Well how about that? Larry's back! Alright, original mascot!"

The platypus was not about to give up its title as mascot that quickly. So, to defeat all competition, the platypus had decided to eat Larry.

David, already tired from the day's activity just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Fine, whatever, it's the platypus."

The campers then start to figure out names for the new platypus "team". The children all decided that the Camp Campbell Pussies was a sufficient name. They chant the name all the way back to camp.

"I'll just take the platypus back with me." Yuni says, picking up the new mascot by its tail and dragging it back to camp by its tail.

Max and David were left watching everyone march to the mess hall.

"...So what's up with the quartermaster and Jews?"


	3. Scout's Dishonor

"Alright guys. Our first attempt to bust out of this god-forsaken hellhole didn't work. But tonight's gonna be different." Stopping in the middle of his gameplan speech, Max took a second to count out the crew. "Where's Yuni?" He asks, annoyed.

As if on cue, Yuni stumbles out from behind a nearby tree. Her phone slips out of her sweater pocket, her headphones fall off her head and her journal slips out from under her shirt.

Max facepalms. "Someone drag her over here..."

"NO, no... I'm getting there..." Yuni grabs her phone, puts her headphones back on, sticks the journal back up her shirt and walks over to the rest of the group.

"Why are you late? We planned to meet where and when this morning."

Starting one of her "Wake Up" playlists she replies, "Y'see, I'm not exactly one to wake up in the night because I'm doing something called sleeping? Don't know if you know what it is..." Yuni has quite the attitude when sleep deprived, but who doesn't?

Max shoots her a "don't-test-me" look, only for Yuni to send a "make-me" look back. The boy sighs. "We're wasting time. But anyways, we have a secret weapon."

Walking off the pier was the meanest, most badass looking kid ever. He wore an eyepatch and was biting on a candy cane. It seemed like a legit substitute for a cigar.

"His name is Billy Nikssilp. He's an ex-Wood Scout and he's one of the best."

"Call me Snake." Billy says with the fakest deep voice ever.

Before the kid could say anything else about his Wood Scout days, Yuni just had to get her opinion in.

"Okay kid. You're smaller than everyone here, there aren't enough letters in your name to even spell Snake, and you could totally wreck your voice if you keep talking like that." She spoke quickly and with the most annoying whisper ever.

"...I don't wanna hear her when we get on the boat." Billy tells Max simply.

* * *

Yuni's mouth is being held closed by Nikki and Neil.

"So... what're you gonna do on the outside?" Neil asks, trying to make the quiet atmosphere a little less quiet.

"Probably live with the animals. Try and get raised by wolves, maybe work my way up to alpha. Pee on stuff." Yuni mumbles, "very specific" from behind the hands. Nikki and Neil both tighten their hold.

"I think I'll go to my dad's house and tell him that mom sent me to an abusive summer camp. Pretend to like him more so she'll buy back my love."

"That's really dark, Neil."

 **Neil**

 **Can be the meanest mofo ever when it comes to emotional manipulation.**

"Billy... Where are you taking us?" The feeling of freedom on the boat had changed. It seems that Billy has other plans in mind.

"...Shortcut." was his only answer.

Yuni observes everyone on the boat. Nikki and Neil have both gone silent, Max is looking out over the boat and Billy was eyeing his very sharp candy cane-

"MAX HE'S GONNA-" But the warning came too late. As soon as Yuni opened her mouth, Billy stabbed Max in the back; literally.

 **Snake Kid**

 **Be VERY CAREFUL around him when he has a candy cane.**

Everything was happening too quickly for Yuni to process. Before she knew it, she was tossed into the water. Out of reflex, she takes a breath only to fill herself up with more water. Her vision was getting darker and darker.

'Is this how I die?'

* * *

"It's a girl!" The doctor exclaims.

"Well then, get her out of the water!" The doctor swaddles the baby before handing her over.

"Hey baby girl! It's me, dada! Look at how small you are~!" The man smiles at the bundle in his arms. "What should we name you, hm?"

"A mistake is what she is. Let's name her that..." The woman answers back with hatred. She squints at her baby from inside the tub.

"Don't worry baby girl. In this house, you won't have to listen to mommy with dada around..." He coos, shooting the woman a look. One that screamed anger.

"I'd gladly let you have her!" The woman yelled.

"She won't just be mine! You **will** be her mother whether you like it or not!" He yelled back, equally as loud.

The little girl began to cry in her father's arms.

"No, no, no, don't cry baby girl. Everything's okay."

Her crying ceased and she stared back at her father, confused.

He smiled back softly. "If mommy won't love you, Yuni, I'm always here for you. Don't worry, Yuni. Daddy will always love you, Yuni..."

* * *

"YUNI, WAKE UP!" One more slap from Nikki was enough to get her to open her eyes wide.

"I'm up!" Yuni immediately squints as the sun gets in her eyes. "Where are we? Why am I so wet?"

"We've landed in the worst place possible. I can already feel my happiness fading away..." Nikki replies with disgust.

"And to answer your second question, you threw up water while you were unconscious." Neil responds.

"Oh. My. God." An obnoxious voice is heard from the crash-landing site. "Is that... Nikkaaaaay?"

Sitting up, Yuni could see three girls, all with different hair colors wearing the same clean uniform.

"Ew, who is thaat?" The girl with the blue hair exclaims. Yuni couldn't tell if she was talking about her or Neil and his fake hair.

"Tabbii, Erin, pleeze." The one in the middle says. "A Flower Scout always welcomes others with daintyness and respaact."

"... Flower Scouts?" Yuni and Neil say in unison.

Behind the three girls was the most expensive looking meeting ground in terms of it belonging to a girls camp.

"Holy crap!" Yuni whispers to herself excitedly.

"Nikki? YOU were a Flower Scout?"

"Ugh, yeah... But they were totally boring so I bailed." Nikki says, looking down.

The leader Flower Scout cleared her throat to gain back the attention. "It's sooo good to see you again, Nikki. And, um...?"

"I'm Yuni and I'm in need of a dry shirt, if you don't mind." Yuni introduces herself with respect like her mother would do with her teachers.

"Ooh! This one already has manners." The blue haired girl spoke up. Erin was her name?

"I'm Ne-"

"ANCY!" Nikki shoots Neil a look.

"Nee-ancy?" The leader Scout raises one of her eyebrows.

Nikki explains that the name is spelt weird because of its "French" origin. This leads the blond haired girl to share about her weirdly spelled name, Tabbii with two "i's".

"You girls can go on without me. I'll go get a shirt for Yuni." The leader says, already walking away.

"Yes, Sasha." They both say. "Come on, Neeancy! Our morning activities are starting!" Tabbii exclaims.

"You too, Yuni!" Erin adds in.

They turn around and say, "You can come too, Nikki."

Yuni gets a mean girls vibe from those three. A Flower Scout page is made. They're bound to be exciting gossip.

* * *

Max is currently tied to a chair, getting the shit slapped out of him by a really well built Wood Scout.

"Why do yoU KEEP HITTING ME?!" His voice rises to a yelling level. "AND WHY IS IT ONLY CLOUDY OVER YOUR SIDE OF THE LAKE?!" Max's voice cracks on the word "cloudy".

"That's enough, Petrol." A voice from the darkness spoke. "Don't wanna over-tenderize the new meat." Moving closer into the light, Max could see another boy.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Cedar Scout, First Class, Edward Pikeman. Senior Patrol Leader of Wood Scout Troop 818. And it looks like you're our latest recruit." He really makes it sound like they're in the military, huh? Pikeman moves into the light just enough for Max to be able to see his face.

"God, your face is gross." Max blurts out.

"...Whaa...?" Pikeman's tough guy act crumbles.

"Oh, sorry, that just slipped out..." Max quickly apologizes. Good to know the boy knows his insult boundaries.

"Dude..."

"Sorry... I know... That was mean."

"It really was..."

"It's just... You were so close..."

"Enough!" Pikeman snaps back to his original self. "Enrollment into our organization has reached an all-time-low. So, we have no choice but to forcibly recruit new members into our program."

Max decides to point out the obvious irony. "I mean, have you considered that enrollment is low because you guys do things like kidnap other campers?"

"Oh, we don't kidnap other campers... That'd be immoral." Max rolls his eyes at this.

"That guy LITERALLY stabbed me in the back." He yells, mentioning Snake.

"No... He RESCUED you after you ran away from Camp Campbell. Remember?" Pikeman pauses a bit for dramatic effect. "And now... we're going to make a Wood Scout out of you, Max."

The sounds of protest could be heard from across Lake Lilac.

* * *

The activities were done in a sort of montage-y way and every time the group transitioned, the girls threw... glitter? So much of it just happened to be inhaled by Yuni, disabling her from speaking. But because she didn't want to be a bad guest in front of the _definitely_ popular girls, she had to suck it up and suffer through the whole day with scratchy glitter in her throat.

"Consider yourselves honorary Flower Scouts, Neeancy and Yuni!" Sasha sticks the badges by their hearts.

"Wow, Sasha, thanks!" Yuni nods as her own silent thank you. "This place is amazing! Air conditioning, indoor plumbing, free WiFi!"

 **Neil**

 **Pretty sure if he could choose, he would stay a Flower Scout forever.**

"I mean, what did you think this place was like? A girl can't be expected to rough it in the cruel outdoors!"

"A-men sister!" Neil responds. Yuni nods again in agreement.

"Hey guys, check it out!" Squaking is heard by the doorway. Nikki walks in with a falcon on her arm. "I named him Timothy!"

Yuni coughs in shock, simultaneously relieving herself of the glitter.

"Nikki, that's incredible!" Neil exclaims.

The other three jump back and cry out in disgust. Neil gets confused by their reactions.

"Neeancy, get away from her!" Sasha says, still keeping her distance from the "horrid" bird.

"What? Why?" All she did was bring in a bird. They just thought the worst of it.

"Can't you see-ah?" Tabbii says.

"She's nahht normaaal." Erin adds.

Sasha continues to explain exactly how Nikki was unladylike to the point the Flower Scouts decided to run her out. Most of her reasons and excuses were very stereotypical that even Yuni felt guilty for stereotyping the campers on her first day at camp. By the end of her speech, Neil was given an ultimatum.

"Now, do you wanna be socially outcast? Or do you wanna go get ice cream?"

Neil looks back at Nikki who gives him a smile. A "you-know-the-right-answer" kind of smile.

"Y'all are some ignorant fucking cunts." In a dramatic fashion that would make Preston proud, Neil takes off his leaf-wig to reveal to the Flower Scouts that he was a boy who did everything they did. "And the name's Neil!"

He motions his head toward Yuni. "Let's get out of here."

Yuni gets up from her seat and joins her companions by the door.

"Also! I'm keeping the WiFi!"

"TIMOTHY, AWAY!"

Yuni quickly grabs on to Nikki and Neil's legs and holds on tight.

'Thank goodness for a strict home diet.'

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Neil." Nikki sounds grateful and all happy inside.

"Yeah, well, Paradise isn't Paradise without your friends."

"That was super gay." Nikki points out.

"We JUST learned a lesson about stereotyping!"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Nikki apologizes. "...Do you think Max learned any valuable lessons on his adventure?"

Skip to Max back at the Wood Scout base all tangled up in the ropes course.

"You know, maybe I don't hate Camp Campbell. Maybe I hate everything..."

A/N: Sorry if this chapter was lack luster! I'm just very tired and halfway through my notebook draft of this chapter, I lost motivation. So if it seems really boring, you know why.


	4. Camp Cool Kidz

We dawn on a new day at Camp Campbell, where our favorite friends are currently scrubbing the floor, basic labor stuff.

"This sucks. This is the kind of peasant work my parents left their home country to avoid." This, dear children, is Max; Everyone's favorite smart mouth. He's a pretty big deal at camp.

"Yeah, I don't get the point. What good is rolling around in the floor if it's clean?" This is Nikki. She's the muscle of the team. She bit David and was chased by a platypus. Ah, good times...

"This isn't even part of a sanctioned camp activity. This is child labor!" This is Neil. He's the brains of the operation.

And that sorry lump NEXT to Neil is Yuni. She's sort of the spy. She doesn't _really_ know if she's part of the group or not. "I like to think they accept me, hehe~" She whispers to herself, sounding delirious.

"Are you okay, Yuni?" Neil asks, concerned.

"Just high on sleep, Neil! Haha~..." She giggles a little before going back to scrubbing.

Ered, the coolest girl at camp, walks by the group and leans on the nearest wall watching everyone else clean the mess hall.

"Man, Ered never gets yelled at for not working. She's just too cool. I wish I was like her." Nikki gushes.

"Arid? Like a dry desert climate?" Neil is confused by the odd name.

"I think her real name is Meredith, but she's so frickin' cool, she goes by the middle part of her name." Nikki explains. "Ooh! I wonder if I should try that... 'Ikk.' Oooh! Yeaah!"

"That's fucking stupid," Max cuts in. "Nicknames don't make you cool."

"Pssh, spoken like a true first-part nicknamer." So his full name isn't Max...

"No one's _too_ cool to talk to. Even cool kids take giant uncomfortable shits from time to time. Helps remind you that we're all equal."

 **Max**

 **Can be deep if he wants to be (but it almost always will be vulgar)**

The Quartermaster notices that the trio has stopped scrubbing and tells them to get back to work.

"If we were in charge, things would be so much better." Neil grumbles. "No scrubbing, no outdoors..."

"No David." Max adds in.

"We should just REVOLT!" Neil decides.

"But that's not gonna work~..." Yuni says. No one listens to her, though.

"You know what? You're right!" Max stands up addressing the rest of the room. "Aren't you all sick of this lowly work?! It's time we take control of our lives and fight back! Who's with me?!"

"Yeah!" Everyone in the room drops what they're doing except for Yuni, who continues to scrub the floor with the toothbrush.

"Tie him to the chair!" Max commands.

As soon as the order was given, two other campers had tied the Quartermaster to a nearby chair.

The mess hall soon became a literal mess, with the campers wreaking havoc. They were throwing around spare food from the kitchen, one camper had gotten ahold of the Quartermaster's hook, swinging it around wildly. It was a children's free-for-all, with Max watching over everything.

Then, the front doors open to reveal David and Gwen entering. They stand by the doorway in shock.

"We got ourselves an uprising!"

* * *

The two counselors were captured and tied to the flagpole. All the campers join outside to watch and taunt David and Gwen.

"Max! I am very disappointed in you for this behavior! But I am also torn, because you were clearly paying attention during knot-tying class."

 **Max**

 **Pays attention to the classes that he deems important when in need of escaping.**

David was slapped across the face by the ten-year-old addressed.

"Shut up!" Max made sure that David was tied upside-down, probably to have the blood rush to his head.

"We're in charge now, Davey. The camp is ours!" There was cheering from the other campers.

"This is just like 'Le Mis'!' Ah, I love it!" Leave it to Preston to tie in Broadway references to real life situations.

"Don't make this lame, Preston." Max stops the boy.

"Max, let us down NOW." David orders. "Cameron Campbell is coming to the camp tomorrow and we need to get ready!" Yuni scribbles down the new name onto a page.

"Oh, even better!" Max threatens. "You'll definitely be fired once he sees the state the camp is in! ...Or, WILL be in. Come on, everyone!" Before walking away, Max turns to Yuni. "Stay and watch them. Whatever you do, DON'T untie them."

Yuni nods and plops herself down in front of David. Max watches her for a bit, observing her, before walking off with the rest of the campers.

"Yuni, untie us right now!" David tells the camper in his view.

Yuni whips out her notebook and begins to write some notes. "No can do, David. Max's orders. Because I respect him, and I'm a little afraid of him, I'll do what he says."

"But you should be respecting the adults!" David says. He tries peering into the notebook, noticing that his name was written at the top of a page. There were other words written, but he couldn't read them.

"Yeah! I refuse to sit up here for the next 24 hours!" Gwen pipes up.

Neil, being the smart boy that he is, sets up a playlist of trash TV for Gwen to watch on the touchscreen pad. She gets interested, as expected. The revolution has begun!

* * *

"I vote Ered!" Nikki blurts out.

"WHAT?!"

"...Cool." Ered shrugs at her nomination. Other campers start to vote for her as well.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the hell up!" Max jumps off the stage. "Did you nerds forget who revolutionized this place?!" Technically it was Neil's idea, but Max decided to take up the opportunity and make it his own so... "I should be leading you! Not 'X-treme Sports Barbie' over here!"

Most of the other campers start to flock over to Ered, favoring her as the leader instead of Max. Ered decides to call the new camp, "Camp Cool Kidz".

Max, realizing he's losing his followers, starts to protest, talking about the 1% and... 9/11? Neil tries to help defend Max's side only for Nikki to fight him back and win Ered's approval. Space Kid tries to switch sides but is forced to stay with Max and Neil.

"What the hell is wrong with you, TRAITOR?!" Max is angry with Nikki for her betrayal.

"I'm sorry! You said to talk to her, and uh, I panicked, so I just voted for her!"

"You'll regret this..." Max hisses.

Nikki may have felt bad then, but once Ered pulls out a pair of cool sunglasses just for her, all the regret was gone. "Nah, I don't think so."

* * *

 **Gwen**

 **Likes trash TV; must live a boring life outside of camp.**

"Why do you always carry around that book? Is it special?" David attempts to converse with Yuni.

"Why must you ask questions..." She sighs, now off her sleepy high. "Yes, it is special. Isn't the blood rushing to your head now?"

David thinks about it for a moment. He isn't light-headed, so it hasn't happened yet, surprisingly. "Nope! Not at all! Perfectly fine, in fact."

"Mm. Okay." And she goes back to scribbling. David watches the camper, trying to make out what it was she was writing about.

"You said you respected Max?" David speaks up again.

Yuni rolls her eyes and sighs again. "Yes, I respect Max."

"Why? And why are you afraid of him? He's your age I believe."

Yuni was slowly getting tired of the personal questions, but because she was told not to get up, she continues to talk with the counselor. "He is my age, yeah, he just scares me a bit with his outlandish ideas that the rest of us get pulled into. I don't wanna die yet, you know?" Her face softens somewhat. "I respect him because of his maturity. It's something that reminds me of home, except he's nice about it. I doubt you'd understand, I mean, he's angry with you all the time but... I like it in him. It suits his character."

Yuni looks up to see David with a dopey grin on his face. If he could move, he probably would've hugged her.

"You tricked me into sharing my feelings..."

"Well, I wouldn't call it tricking-"

"That's enough talking from you today."

 **David**

 **Don't EVER let him get to you, Yuni.**

* * *

Night has come at last. The campers of the new Camp Cool Kidz have taken over the mess hall, doing whatever it is their little minds desired. Yuni still sits outside with the counselors watching them and keeping company. David was asleep while Gwen kept at it with the binge-watching.

"Everyone is so much happier now, thanks to you!" Nikki compliments her idol.

"How're the plans for the giant half-pipe coming?" Ered asks her right hand man.

"Should be ready to build as soon as we learn basic architecture." Nikki replies. "What a cool idea, Ered."

"I know. Think of all the sick 900's we could do off that thing."

"Yeah! I totally know what that is!" Nikki says unsure, trying to impress Ered.

Nerris and Harrison come back inside requesting a break, to which the leader gives generously.

Meanwhile, with the boys...

"Fellow Freeman." Max walks into the light of the fire dramatically, showing off his face paint. "There comes a time when a group must fight back against tyranny. Like the minutemen of the Revolution, we will fight for our independence!" My boy, it's not that serious...

"...I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with this." Neil speaks up. "It's only been a few hours and we've already gone shirtless!"

"Silence!" Max puts a hand up. "We're gonna hit Camp Cool Kidz with everything we've got!" Not having any ideas himself, he says "Freebrother Neil. What've you got?"

Neil pulls out two bombs from behind him. "...I was saving these to put in David's underpants..."

"Perfect."

Space Kid tries to bring up his pinecones, but Max promptly tells him to shut up.

"Here's how it'll work. Space Kid is the most expendable, so he'll be our decoy."

* * *

The dance party music was paused when an explosion was heard. One of the walls had a huge hole in it, revealing Space Kid on the other side.

"I did this. Come after me!" The boy starts running away from the mess hall.

"Aw, man! Sooo uncool." Ered crosses her arms and looks to the side, expecting the other campers to do something.

"MURDER HIM!" Nikki commands.

Space Kid runs past the flagpole, waking David up and giving Yuni a bit of a scare.

"What are you kids doing?!" David asks frantically.

"We're gonna kill Space Kid!" Nikki gives him an answer, passing him by.

Space Kid stops right in front of the trap and turns around to witness the other campers falling in.

"Whoa. Awesome!" Nikki looks on in awe at the well-made trap. Ered gives her a "no-it's-not-awesome" look. "I mean, you fiend!"

"YOU'RE the fiend!" Walking through the bushes was Max and Neil, the former wielding a handmade spear and the latter covering himself up with his hands.

"What do YOU losers want?" Ered taunts.

"JUSTICE!"

Within earshot, David asks, "You guys are here to rescue me?"

"No, they're not, David." Yuni deadpans. She moves over to the right, her gut feeling telling her something bad might happen if she didn't.

"Pssh, I'd like to see you TRY and fight us."

"Gladly." Max expertly spins his weapon around, only to take it apart and strip it down to a single stick.

"Nikki... Attack." Ered commands. Nikki follows the order, getting down on her hands into a dog stance.

The friends move in a circle, eyeing each other. The sun is rising in the background.

"No fighting! Violence never solves anything!" David advises from the sidelines.

Nikki lunges at Max and the fight begins. Max manages to keep his distance using the stick to push Nikki back up off of him.

"Nikki, give it up, she doesn't care about you! She just uses people!" Max's facial expression turns into one of genuine concern for a split second.

"Don't listen to him Nikki!" Ered tells her from outside the fighting ground.

"Don't worry, Ered!" Nikki pushes Max down to the dirt road. "I know it's not true!"

"Uh... no, of course it's true, just don't listen to him!" That was the opposite of what you're supposed to say, Ered. "I need you on MY side."

Regardless of the broken dreams, Nikki continues to fight.

"I'll save you, Nikki!" Harrison cries from inside the hole. Fire shoots out of Harrison's glove (?) and misses his original target, setting the rope that tied the counselors to the flagpole aflame.

"OH GOD! SOMEONE STOP-DROP AND ROLL ME! YUNI, GET SOME WATER!"

"Okay." Yuni gets up off the ground, pats herself clean and comes back a moment later with a water bottle in her hand. David looks at her incredulously. "You said get water. You didn't specify for who."

Nikki has an advantage being on top, as she is able to use her body weight to keep Max pinned. But being on the bottom also has its advantages, and Max takes the opening opportunity to kick Nikki off of him.

Her cool sunglasses are flung off her head and get shattered as they hit the ground.

"This is decidedly un-cool." Ered says, one hand on her hip. Nikki's bottom lip trembles at the sight of the broken sunglasses.

"I AGREE! SOMEONE PUT ME OUT!"

Yuni watches the car in the distance come closer and crash into the flagpole, hitting David head on. So _that_ was the gut feeling...

The children all stop to see the car door open and watched as Cameron Campbell steps out.

"Did somebody say... Cameron Campbell?"

 **Campbell**

 **Super annoying for an old rich guy.**

"Mr. Campbell?! You saved me!" Yes David, crashing into you with a car was what he intended to do.

"...YES! I definitely saw you and was fully aware hitting you with my car would be the best course of action!"

"I call bullshit!" Yuni says aloud. This earns her a look.

David continues to confess profusely and apologize for how bad the camp looks. Campbell only laughs and remembers the days when kids would have their revolutions in the past. He proceeds to walk inside, open up a safe, take out some money and walk back out.

"Hey, Cam!" Campbell looks up from counting his money to see Max, still in his "minuteman" costume. "Can't you see this guy is a terrible counselor and he needs to be dealt with?"

"Eh? Oh, sorry kids, I've got other things to deal with. Campbell's got a poker game to get to!" He rambles on about what will happen if he wins yada, yada, yada, Yuni wasn't listening anymore.

"But our revolution!" Neil brings up.

"This is serious!" Max hits the ground with the stick like a staff. "We're leading a charge to make a difference! We are the 99%! I saw it on TV!" Oh dear child. Not everything can be taken as truth.

"Oh you kids and your dreams! So full of hope and ignorance!" Max glares at the founder as he pets his hair. "Someday, you'll learn that no matter how righteous you think your cause is, there's always someone bigger to keep you down!"

"Huh?" Max looks up at Campbell in confusion.

Cut to everyone back in the mess hall cleaning the place like they had been doing before the revolution.

"Make it shine now, kids! I had to cut provisions, so you'll be using those toothbrushes later!"

"Joke's on him, I have my own." Yuni says to herself.

"Whelp, I feel like that was futile." Yuni nods at Nikki's statement. It always was. "Sorry, Max."

"It's alright." He says nonchalantly. "I think we know this is all Neil's fault."

Yuni lets out a "pfft", knowing this was how the revolution was going to end up in the first place.

"Yuni!"

"Sorry."

"Yup, lesson learned. Never try to change anything ever."

As Neil finishes his sentence, the Quartermaster falls out of his tape trap and onto the floor.

"Ow."


	5. Journey To Spooky Island

Tonight, David and Gwen decided to tell spooky stories with the campers. Why they had decided to only take five kids was a mystery itself. Yuni had to be given sugar during the day to keep her up for tonight, considering last time. Space Kid tagged along as well. No one asked him to, he just stuck himself there.

"The thing drew closer, with its inhumane breathing and claws clicking against the floor with each step..." Yuni was beginning to doze off, the sugar energy already fading away. She just wanted to go back to her tent.

"Desperately, the young boy pulled the sheet off the creature to reveal... THE DOG THAT GOT TANGLED UP IN HIS LAUNDRY!" Yuni stirred a little at the sudden change in volume.

"Mmh..." The girl groans. Yuni tries to wrap her sweater tighter around her body. It was getting a bit comfortable, at least.

"And that's why you should always properly fold and put away your laundry." No one was listening to David at this point, except Gwen, who gave him a bored stare.

"Well, it was scary when it happened to me. I was very innocent and impressionable back then."

"David... Stop yelling... it's too late for this..." Yuni sighs, too tired to speak full sentences.

"So... last week?" Gwen got him there.

"What's scary is how much I wanna kill myself right now..." What is with the pessimism tonight?

"Okay, okay, I got it." Gwen starts. "So once, there was this girl-"

"Noooo..." Yuni whines from her sitting spot. "Don't start with your fanfiction..."

"So help me, if this involves vampire romance..."

"I-it could've been werewolves. You don't know!" Gwen rubs her arm.

Yuni tries with whatever energy she has left to get up and walk back to her tent to go to sleep. But, of course, David sits her back down by the campfire, where she flops to the ground, giving up.

"So, nothing scares you, Max? Not even ghosts?"

"People in sheets got me concerned, but nah, not even ghosts. Just not a screamer." Max looks to the side nonchalantly. He watches Yuni wriggling on the ground and throws a stick at her.

"Hgh... Max..." She groans back. "Stop... too tired... to..." Yuni doesn't finish her sentence. Max smirks at the reaction.

"What about space ghosts-eh..." Before Space Kid could finish his question, his stomach began making weird noises.

"Uhh, mission control, I don't feel so good..."

Soon, almost everyone was screaming. Bursting out of Space Kid's astronaut suit was a squirrel with an... eyepatch?

Yuni pulls her hood over her ears, tugging on the drawstrings to block out the noise and light.

"Wait a minute, how is it that you weren't even fazed by THAT?" Why is David surprised, honestly?

"Might've helped if I hadn't put it in his suit to begin with." was the answer.

"Alright, tough guy. So you think you're so-" David is cut off by moaning and wailing heard in the distance.

Max gives the _obvious_ answer of the church camp kids doing repressions.

As David points out everything and anything remotely "scary", Max always has a reason for it.

Rustling is heard coming from the nearby bushes.

"Uh, guuuuuuys?" Neil says, backing up a bit.

"GUYS!" Nikki exclaims.

David prays for it to only be a puppy.

"What the blue ball blazes is happenin' here?" Oh good, it's just Quartermaster.

The rest of the conversation was left unheard as Yuni finds it in her to fall asleep. The warmth of the fire and her sweater felt nice...

* * *

"...You think he's hiding something?"

"Uh, YES?" Neil's sudden pitch change wakes up Yuni in the subtlest way.

"Ugh... Neil, shut up..." Yuni whines.

"Sorry, Yuni. But you should get up anyways." Neil apologizes.

"Mmh, whatever..."

"Maybe it was the ghost he was talking about!" Nikki gasps. "Could you imagine meeting one!?"

"Psh, ghosts don't exist. You die, and then you're faced with eternal nothingness. It's gonna be great." Max brushes off the subject.

"I'm not sure about nothingness, but ghosts most likely don't exist." Yuni adds on, rubbing her eyes.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW? YOU'VE NEVER DIED!" Nikki addresses Max. "Ooh, could you imagine being the first person to find a ghost?! Or a MONSTER?!"

"Both of those things don't exist. If they did, Disney would've beaten us to it and make it a whole lot more kid-friendly by now..." Yuni muses.

"You'd make the cover of Science Magazine!"

 **Nikki**

 **Master of persuasion and ignoring whoever she chooses to.**

"SHUT UP!" There's nothing to be afraid of! And I'll prove it."

"Why do I feel like we're going on another adventure..." Yuni sighs.

* * *

 **Max**

 **When he needs to get a point across, he'll find a way to prove it. I am going to die this way one of these days.**

The group reached Spooky Island in no time. The platypus came along for extra defense.

"Alright, Spook Hunters! Let's go hunt some Spooks!"

"You just came up with that name now, right?" Yuni asks.

"It's a work-in-progress." Nikki replies.

"Don't say that..." Max facepalms.

"Do we actually have a detective team now?" Neil wonders.

Nikki pulls out her pocket theremin and claims that the group needs a theme song. Max promptly uses the oar to knock it out of her hand.

"HEY! Do you know how hard it is to find a good pocket theremin?!"

"I'm counting on it." Max jabs.

Yuni steps out of the boat and waves at the camp mascot. "Now, Muack. You stay and guard the boat, okay?"

The platypus blinks in response.

"Everyone focus! And unless that's your backup singer Nikki, we've already got company..." Max shines the flashlight towards the moving bushes.

The light reveals a pair of eyes. Nikki and Neil scream, Max stays unnerved and Yuni is seen petting the mascot.

"Who the hell are you?" Max asks.

The creature steps into view. It turns out to be another kid about their age. He wore outdated clothes and looked pretty retro.

"Me? I'm Jasper." Jasper page, check.

 **Jasper**

 **Wonder if this kid lives on Spooky Island**

"...But, who are you? What are you doing here? This is the last place you want to be on a night like this..." While Jasper continues with his speech, Max leads the others to what appears to be Campbell's old summer home. There was moaning and wailing coming from inside.

"What the hell was THAT?!" Neil exclaims.

"I told you, dude! There are THINGS inside..." Jasper meets up with the rest of the crew.

"No one says dude anymore." Yuni points out.

"THINGS?! Like monsters?! I knew it!" Nikki says, excited.

"Wait, are you guys here to help stop the monsters? Are you like a gang of mystery solvers?"

"Nope. We're just kids trying to prove something stupid." Yuni deadpans.

"It's not stupid! Don't listen to her. We're definitely like the Harlem Globetrotters." Nikki tells Jasper.

"Oh wow, you guys have a theme song?"

"We're working on it."

"Radical." Jasper whispers in awe.

 **Jasper**

 **Kid uses super old slag and it bothers me...**

"Look, man, you're kinda ruining our dynamic. We're a comedy TRIO." Yuni looks back at Max, shocked.

"What about me?!"

"We're working on fitting you somewhere." Max ends the statement with his signature smirk. Yuni huffs to herself

"Besides, there's nothing inside." Max goes back to addressing Jasper.

"THERE'S SOMETHING INSIDE!" Nikki points to a silhouette in a nearby window.

"A MONSTER!" Neil yells.

"Yawn." Max replies. Yuni _actually_ yawns into her journal. "Exactly." Max points a thumb at her.

"I'm not yawning to agree with you." Yuni explains. "I'm yawning because I'm genuinely tired. When are we going back?" She whines.

"We'll see who's yawning when we're all DEAD!" Nikki says, pointing a finger at Max.

Before Max could point out what was wrong with her statement, Nikki kicks the door open dramatically.

"ALRIGHT SASQUATCH! LET'S TANGO!"

Lightening flashes and the power goes out, causing Neil and Jasper to scream.

"Calm down, the storm just tripped the power." Max assures.

"Aww... If only I had my L.A. gear light-up shoes... 'They light up the night!'"

Yuni wears a smug smile. "You really are a baby aren't you?" She is the last one to step into the house. "No one even wears Twinkle Toes anymore."

"I am not a baby! And they're called L.A. gear light-up shoes!" Jasper says, crossing his arms.

Max turns on the flashlight to reveal a bear in an attack stance. More screaming ensues.

"What? What's going on? What do you see?" Yuni asks, frantic.

"It's a stuffed bear." Max annonces.

"Oh." Yuni looks to her left. "There's another one here too."

 **Campbell**

 **Wonder where the bears came from...**

The kids continue along, trying to find a way to bring the power back. The group reaches a library area.

"Woah! Cool!" Yuni rushes over to the bookshelves and starts to browse. "One of these has to be a secret switch! I saw it in a movie once!"

"Good idea! Let's start looking." Neil begins to browse through the books as well.

Jasper examines a stone statue of the camp's founder. Pulling the arm down reveals a secret switch, causing Neil to disappear behind the wall.

"NEIL!"

"...Or maybe _that's_ the secret switch..."

"The hell'd you do?!" Max asks Jasper. Out of anger or concern for Neil, I'll never know.

"Don't have a cow, man! I'm just trying to be a part of the gang!" Jasper answers, dejected.

"Jasper," Yuni walks up behind him. "If they don't accept _me_ as part of the 'gang', they probably don't accept you..."

Neil's muffled voice alerts the rest of the group and they make their way to the other side.

"Neil! What is it?!" Nikki sounds worried.

"It's... beautiful..." Neil has his flashlight shined on science equipment.

"Yep." Yuni sighs. "That's our nerd."

 **Neil**

 **If seeing simple equipment gives him a science boner, kinda makes you think about how long he's been away from an actual lab since coming to camp**

"More like weird science. Check it." Max flips a switch and the lights turn back on.

"Oh, thank... GOODNESS!" Yuni looks up from her journal to see jars of green fluid and what appears to be failed experiments. they seem to still be alive.

"THIS is what got you?" Max asks.

"No, I was just surprised, is all." Yuni answers. she looks back down to continue writing, thankful for being able to see the page again. But instead of continuing, she stops and stares at the floor, squinting and widening her eyes to see if they were working correctly.

"Are you okay? You were spacing out there." Yuni makes eye contact with Jasper.

"Yeah... I'm fine. I'm just tired." She replies quickly. Jasper shrugs.

 **Jasper**

 **He has no shadow...**

"ALRIGHT! THAT'S IT! I'M DONE!" Neil exclaims.

"You can't go yet! You still have to rid the Island of the EVIL!" Jasper points out, hoping they could stay a while longer.

"Yeah, come on Neil, shake it off! Don't lose your sense of ADVENTURE!" Nikki plays around with a scalpel.

 **Nikki**

 **Adventure Camp was a very good choice on her mom's part. You just can't contain that energy into one tiny body.**

"Don't be so naive. This is mild experimentation at best. You have any idea what goes into fast food?" The octopus-like creature moves in its tank as Max pauses. "Probably that."

More wailing and groaning noises are heard coming from the bottom of a stairway.

"The tormented souls of the dearly departed!" Nikki gasps. "And look! A trail of hair and blood!"

"WHO CARES?!" Max proclaims, getting fed up with this "mystery-solving" business. "It's just going to be a wounded dog or some other coincidental, colossal waste of time!"

"You're just scared~!" Nikki boops Max's nose.

"I am NOT scared. I feel like we've established this by now."

Yuni giggles following Neil and Jasper down the stairs.

"What are you laughing at?" Max asks her with annoyance. He follows behind the camper in question.

"It's nothing, Captain Edgy." She replies, straight-faced, laughing on the inside.

* * *

"Max is sca-ared! Max is..." Nikki stops her jestering at the sight of the next room.

The rest of the crew makes it to the room just behind her.

"Oh jesus fucking lord..." Neil whimpers, huddling with Jasper by the door.

Max looks around the room, unimpressed and not surprised.

"Whoa..." Yuni gasps. "I would usually be sick, but this is just like the 8th Basement! Awesome!"

Jasper looks back at the girl. "You're crazy..."

Yuni shrugs. "What? Prison Boys was a good game."

"Whelp! We made it, Nikki! Are you happy now?!" It was Max's turn to start teasing Nikki.

"Idon'twannabehere." She replies quickly.

"You know what! On second thought, maybe the evil's unstoppable. We should all go home. We could... play some Pogs! Forget this ever happened!" Neil nods in agreement with Jasper's idea.

 **Jasper**

 **Plays a game called Pogs? What _is_ Pogs?**

"Oh, no! We have to find 'Ghosts and Monsters,' remember?" Max was taking great joy in being sarcastic.

"Idon'twannabehere..."

"Max, come on! This is way too spooky..." Neil cries out.

"No, it isn't. You know what this is? Proof that the founder of Camp Campbell is a rich piece of shit with terrible morals. And who also potentially kills people! ...ALL THINGS I WAS ALREADY PRETTY SURE OF!"

 **Max**

 **As a leader, he can and will bluff.**

"Idon'twannabehere." Nikki says quietly.

"BUT THE MONSTER! THE WAILS! YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN THAT!" Neil yells.

"A-actually-" Jasper points to yet another door where moans and wails are coming from, but _spookier_.

Jasper and Neil scream again. I'm getting real tired of writing you two screaming over and over...

"THE HELL I CAN'T!" Max walks over to the door.

"WAIT!" Neil shrieks.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Jasper cries, equally as scared.

"There is no such thing as monsters! There's no such thing as ghosts! And there IS NOTHING. TO BE. AFRAID OF!" Max grabs the door by the handle and opens it.

"Don't!" Jasper tries reaching our to close the door but fails.

Upon looking into the room, the group sees a whole bunch of old people doing things that children shouldn't know about just yet.

"...And I thought the websites my babysitter used to browse were weird..." Yuni murmurs with a hand by her mouth.

Everything was silent. The old people in the room looked towards the door, just staring at the children. Until,

"I WARNED YEEEEEOOOOUUUUU, CHIIIILLLDD!"

"YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS, DIDN'T YOU JASPER?!" Yuni covers her own eyes with her hands, turns back and starts pacing around the torture room. "WHY DIDN'T YOU CLOSE THE DOOR IN TIME!?"

Max is heard screaming all throughout the mansion.

* * *

The four campers are boarded back on the boat. Max, Neil and Nikki are the lucky ones who get to sit by the front. Yuni had to take one for the team and sit in the back, which was closer to the Quartermaster. She kept her eyes on the island that slowly got smaller and smaller.

"Ruined my night. Probably next one too." Quartermaster grumbles.

Yuni sees Jasper and Muack by the edge of the island where they first landed. She waves at Jasper who waves back.

'We forgot about Muack!' She shrugs, only to feel a chill down her spine. 'They'll be fine. Pretty sure platypus can swim.'

The girl watches Jasper talking to the mascot. She rubs her arms to keep the goosebumps away.

 **Jasper**

 **He's a pretty weird guy. If we ever come back to the island, maybe he can be a part of the gang.**

Yuni smiles to herself. The old slang isn't all too bad. Looking back up at the island, she sees Jasper... vanishing? Yuni stiffens.

She rubs her eyes and squints. The island became too small for her to see anything.

'Maybe I'm just seeing things...' She reassures herself. 'Yeah... seeing things...'


	6. Reigny Day

"We're so happy to have you here today! It's such an honor to have the Camp Critic Committee visit us again, you know, after last year's incident. Which, I really want to apologize for that again, and if you were wondering, yes, the camper did survive, physically speaking. But, a lot has changed since then! And I think that this year you will see that I am truly, without a doubt, the prime candidate for the 'Camp Counselor of the Year Award'!"

It was just another day of David kissing up to people, but you already knew that.

"Right, well we've got a big day of outdoor activities planned, but as you know the most important start of any day is a balanced breakfast!" Cue the very unbalanced breakfast of coffee in a helmet, brought to you by an oblivious Space Kid. David looks nervous. _ **"**_ Yep, we run a tight ship around here, but we also encourage freedom of expression!"

"Uh, David?" Gwen tries once.

"Not now!" David whispers back. "Heh, sorry, this is one of our other counselors. She's got nothing to report, as always because our camp is really great, as always. Have I mentioned how great our camp is?" As if he hasn't already said it enough times.

"David!" Gwen presses a second time.

"HAVE I MENTIONED HOW GREAT OUR CAMP IS?" David responds, jaw clenched in an unusually angry sort of way. Who knew covering up for a shit camp could really test a person's patience? He ignores Gwen and continues with his spiel. "Now, we always make sure our daily activities test the bodies and minds of all of our campers, and today is no exception. Behold!" David dramatically pulls open one of the curtains in the mess hall to reveal a full-on outdoor obstacle course, complete with a rock climbing wall. Where the safety equipment for that wall was, no one thought to ask.

"Look, David-" Gwen tries once more before getting cut off by a thoroughly annoyed David.

"WHAT, Gwen! I have gone through a lot of planning and preparation to make this day happen. What could you possibly tell me that I don't already know?" As if on cue, Gwen points out the same window to show David the new dark clouds rolling in over the course. Lightening and thunder crash together as it starts to rain literal cats and dogs.

"It's about to rain." Gwen flips him the finger and walks out of frame.

"No..." David whispers in defeat. _**'**_ Okay, what am I going to do? Think, think...'

"Yes, rain. Any camp's worst nightmare, but not here! You see, the plan all along was to make, uh..."

'Okay, think David, think! You can't have a repeat of last year! Poor, poor Chucky. I hope his family got the flowers. I should send them an email. But not now! Now I have to focus. What's an outside-of-the-box idea that's guaranteed not to go wrong?' David surveys the room, looking over campers for a potential idea to strike. His gaze lands on Dolph, the camp's little artist. 'Aha!'

"...Was to make young Dolph here the counselor for the day! Isn't that right, Dolph?" He catches the young camper by surprise, but was lucky enough not to be met with objection.

"Who, me? Really?" Dolph's eyes go all big and shiny. Clearly this was an opportunity missed for everyone else.

"...Yeppers! I've always said, 'what better way to learn than to teach'?" David does not sound completely confident in what he's doing, but the committee doesn't comment. "Dolph loves arts and crafts, and I'm sure he'll love teaching his fellow campers how to love them too."

"Thank you, Mr. David. Under my rule, I VILL MAKE CAMP CAMPBELL GREAT AGAIN!" Thunder rumbles in the background.

'This is probably fine.' David decides uneasily. The committee jots down some notes as the counselor chuckles nervously. A cat and dog can be heard fighting outside.

"Come now mein friends, let us express ourselves through zhe glory of MACARONI ART!" Dolph marches atop the lunch tables, supervising the creations of his fellow campers. We cut to the Chaotic duo, Max and Nikki, missing two other members.

"Man, this is lame. I miss Chucky." Max almost sounds somber, perhaps remembering an old friend?

"Yeah, and this macaroni sucks!" Nikki's speech is muffled thanks to the handfuls of dry macaroni she has shoved into her mouth.

"Wanna go see how many pudding cups we can fit in our pockets?"

"Oooh! Yeah! I think we can hit 20 this time! What d'you think, Neil?" Nikki looks to her side to find Neil missing. No one bothers to even consider where Yuni is.

"Wait, where's Neil?" Max's voice sounds really subdued this episode, are you THAT bored?!

"I don't know, but we need those pockets! They're deep." Well, how deep can pockets really go if we're talking about pudding cups?

"You lookin' for Neil?" Off-screen in a corner of the mess hall stood Nurf, Harrison held upside down in hand.

"What do you know, Nurf?" Nikki crosses her arms, uninterested.

"Nothin', I'd just like to be included for once. I feel like I'm always just in the background of your adventures." Try being in the middle ground and see how that's like before you complain, Nurf. These guys aren't an easy group to integrate into.

"I mean, that's mainly because you bully kids constantly, Nurf. You're kind of an asshole." Max lays down the facts while Nikki nods.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE! I'LL KILL YOU!" In his little tantrum, he lets Harrison's head hit the floor. Said magic kid lets out an "oof". "Sorry, sorry. I'm working on my issues." Nurf apologizes.

"WHAT'D YOU DO WITH NEIL, NURF? SHOVE HIM IN A LOCKER? MAKE HIM PROM QUEEN, ONLY TO COVER HIM IN BLOOD?" That's very specific, Nikki...

"Back off! I only bully Neil Tuesdays, Thursdays, and non-denominational holidays. I understand he celebrates the Sabbath." D-do bullies schedule time like this?

"Maybe he...vanished!" Harrison pulls out confetti from his pockets and sprinkles them around in a ta-da moment, only to be slammed against the wall.

"Have you guys at least seen him?" Max asks with concern for his friend.

"I saw him with the Space Kid this morning." Harrison groans.

Max sighs. "I guess we'll track him down."

Nikki jumps up, ready at the opportunity of adventure. "Ooh, a MYSTERY! A MURDER MYSTERY!"

"Nope, just a normal one." Buzzkill.

"Or is it...?!" Nikki's pupils go pin sized, scanning the room of suspects before her.

"It is." Max assures.

"Hmm... you seem pretty confident about that. WHERE WERE YOU ON THE NIGHT OF-" Max puts a hand up to stop her from getting to excited over nothing.

"Shut up, let's go find him."

"MYSTERY TIME!" Nikki jumps up and stays in the air because cartoon logic.

* * *

Water drips through the cheap tarp of Yuni's tent and onto her face, waking her up from yet another restless sleep. "Hrm... wh-wha?"

The rain starts to beat down on the flimsy tent, causing Yuni to get soaked through her sweater. If she was quick enough, she could grab her journal and hightail it to the hiding spot she found a while ago to dry off her clothes. Doing just that, Yuni dashes to the back of the mess hall building, journal inside her sweater to keep it from getting wet again, and heads for the attic.

There was, in fact, an attic above the mess hall. Yuni happened to remember hearing Nikki say that Campbell stepped down one of those ceiling ladders on their first day at camp. Like any curious person, she went to explore how to get up into the attic and had practically perfected getting their on her own by now.

Pulling down the latch in the pantry, Yuni hauls herself up into the dark space above, breathing heavily as she closes it back up and starts to strip herself of the wet clothes. She takes off her sweater and was halfway to taking off her shirt when she hears the sound of shrill whimpering. Looking forward, Yuni is met with a disturbed Neil, backing himself further away from the stranger in the dark.

"Neil, it's just me, Yuni. What are you doing up here?"

"I should be asking you the same thing." Neil points out. He scoots closer to his friend only to back up again. "wHY ARE YOU STRIPPING?!"

Yuni didn't see anything wrong with it. It was just the two of them in a dark attic... oh. Yuni chokes on her words before coughing and speaking again. "Hey, you thought of it that way so that's on you! Also, I'm soaking wet from the rain, which is weird, because my phone didn't say it was going to rain today. I'm only going to be drying my clothes off in here and since I don't have any spares, I'm going to be up here until they're dry. I'm in a tank top, so stop being so weird about it."

Neil scoots back cautiously, keeping a fair amount of distance between them. Of course, being a scientist, he'd already studied about both males and females, but being up close with one in the flesh was pretty jarring. Especially since she was one article of clothing away to being half naked and he's only ten!

"So, what are you doing up here? It isn't like you to hide away without Nikki and Max with you." Yuni tries striking up a conversation.

"Oh, well uh, I'm just writing in my, y'know, diary..." Neil trails off, realizing how girly that sounded.

"You write in a diary? Why? What do you write in there?" Yuni, remembering her own journal, pulls it to her lap and opens up to the Neil pages.

 **Neil**

 **Writes in a diary. I _could_ get my hands on it and use it when the time is right, but that feels wrong somehow...**

"What did you just jot down?" Neil was nervous for some reason. His voice wavers as he assumes the worst.

"I'll show you if you tell me about what's in your diary." Yuni offers. She's never actually shown anyone her journal except her dad, but even then, all she shows are the doodles in the back of the notebook. Neil's a smart guy. If he knows how much the journal means to her, he would know not to go around telling everyone about it.

"Oh well it's nothing too interesting. Just my feelings and observations." The answer was vague and quickly given. Neil had always wanted to know what was written inside this book that his friend always carried around with her. It piqued his interest the first time he noticed it and his curiosity has not been quenched ever since.

"Boo, boring. Here, just read your page, or Max's, or Nikki's, I don't mind. Go past those pages and you're dead meat I'm feeding to Nurf." Yuni threatens half-heartedly.

Neil turns to his page. There were silly little doodles of him in the margins, but the best parts were right down the middle of the page. There was a description of him in a small drawn-in box, some lines left blank due to lack of information, like how tall he was and what his parents' names were. There were observations and notes written about him as he continued to scan down the page. The most recent one was the fact about his diary, like he assumed it was. He gulps thickly, refraining from asking if Yuni was going to use that against him, but with the way she was looking now, he didn't think it mattered.

He turns to the Nikki pages next. There wasn't much on her page for the info box either and there were little bits of notes scattered messily on the page. Nothing exciting.

The Max pages were by far the best notes written. His info box was just as barren as the other two, but the scribbles in the margins were cleaner and more detailed. The observation notes were more descriptive, and if Neil had to guess, Max had the most notes out of the three of them so far. "Are you specifically targetting Max? You seem to write a lot about him."

Yuni gives Neil a deadpan look. "Targetting Max could be my one-way ticket home. Granted, home kinda sucks at the moment, but it's better than staying here where the motto should be, 'We're really shady, but if you don't give a fuck, welcome!' Max has been at this camp the longest and has tried escaping multiple times already. He literally told you the first day of camp that he knows how to hotwire a bus! So, of course, I could be targetting him. But I'll leave that up to you to discover on your own."

Yuni knew damn well that what she just said was all a front. She watched him because she respected him, even David knew that. He was a pretty cool kid to be around. Getting to escape for home was just an added bonus.

* * *

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Dolph shakes his head at the art supplies neatly laid out on the table, just now realizing the shortage of construction paper.

Off to the side elsewhere was David reporting to the committee. "You see, I feel that letting the campers take over gives them a sense of pride and purpose, that you just don't get with those other 'traditional' camps. I've..." Dolph walks up to David, pulling on the adult's pant leg. "Oh, uh, yes Dolph? How can I help YOU?"

"Vhere are your papers?" Dolph asks with a stern look.

David gets nervous again. "Uh, I'm not quite sure what you mean."

"Your papers, vhere are zhey? It's a very simple question, David." The committee has leaned forward, eagerly waiting for David's reaction. "You are only hurting yourself by lying." Dolph puts his hands on his hips, waving the construction paper on his side.

"Oh. Oh, you want more construction paper!" David gets the hint and is relieved. It had to be the way Dolph was asking that made him all jumpy.

"Ja, vhat did you zhink I meant? I'm not some sort of secret police or something." Dolph walks away to let David twitch in ironic fear.

"So, Space Kid, you like science and shit, right?" Poor, innocent Space Kid is being questioned about the whereabouts of Neil. Max has him sat in a chair by the kitchen area with Nikki behind the serving counter.

"Uhhhh...y-yeah?" Space Kid's voice comes out all echo-y from being inside his helmet.

"See my partner, she's what we call a hothead. Now she thinks you murdered Neil to get his science supplies." Max points an accusing finger in Space Kid's direction.

"What?! No, no, I didn't..." If this was actually the case, Space Kid wouldn't have known how to use any of the equipment anyways.

"LIAR! Ask him about his albino!" Nikki has two fingers to her ear as if talking through a spy's headset.

"You mean his alibi?" Max corrects.

"That too!"

"Ugh... Nikki, he can see you." Max rubs his temples at the stupidity of their good cop/bad cop scenario.

"AAARGH! Where is he, huh! Did you eat him?! BARF HIM UP!" Nikki jumps over the counter and begins to shake Space Kid around like a ragdoll in a dog's mouth.

"No, please, no! The last time I saw him, he was with Dolph!" Max looks over at Dolph who is back to watching the other campers color pictures.

Dolph stops his march to yell at Harrison for coloring outside of the lines. "Vat is zhis?! You must color inside zhe line! I do not approve of mixing colors!" The small boy promptly kicks the drawing and crayons off the table and onto the floor.

"That's unsettling." Max squints his eyes suspiciously at the sight.

David is standing off to a corner of the room, anxiously watching the committee scribble down notes about the camp. He looks back over at Dolph who messes around with a small piece of paper before it finds itself above his upper lip. The new image of Dolph with a familiar mustache makes David whimper more.

"Where's Neil?! What did you do with him?!" Nikki and Max approach the growing artist about their friend's whereabouts.

"You must not speak to me zhis vay! Respect ze armband!" From afar, the quickly scribbled-on letters would have looked like a _very_ familiar symbol. Along with it being a red armband, you get the point. The armband said that Dolph was camp counselor for the day.

David, getting too tense about what the committee might be writing, shuffles over to the kids. "All right kiddos, why don't we take this conversation somewhere else, like another room! Or another camp!"

"Remember your place David! I am in charge today." Dolph reminds the jumpy adult. "Now vhat seems to be zhe problem? Zhere is a missing child?" The little boy gets up on the table again and scans the room for who might be missing.

"What! No-ho-ho, I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding. Missing is such a strong word, I'm sure Neil is just... hiding!" A missing child after last year's incident could mean this camp was done for! David had to bluff at the very least...

"David, I swear to God, if you lost-" Gwen comes back for a bit of the episode, hooray!

"-BECAUSE WE ARE PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK!" David presses on.

"Somevun is hiding from art's divine presence? Unacceptable! We shall make an example of him! Let zhe hunt begin!" Lightening strikes again, illuminating the room in a flashing sort of way as thunder claps in the distance.

'This is still fine.' David reassures himself.

"Alright, I've given you each a unique number. Now write it on your arm so we don't lose anyvun else." Dolph hands out black markers for everyone to write their numbers with.

"Ooh! I'll be a bloodhound!" Nikki volunteers, getting down on her hands and barking. She sniffs the ground, as if trying to trail Neil's scent.

"Let's search zhe floorboards!" Dolph decrees.

"Yeah!" Preston stands at the ready with a crowbar in hand. He wacks at the floor, pulling up boards in his wake.

"This has escalated quickly." Max observes with concern.

"You cannot hide from us, Neil!" With this declaration from the counselor of the day, David looks over at the committee members to see them frantically jotting down notes to the point of igniting a fire.

'This is no longer fine.' David cries inside.

Nikki leads the search party of Max and the real counselors into the kitchen pantry. "Ooh! Quick, someone open the pantry!"

"What is it, girl?! Is he in here?" David points to the pantry door in the hopes that Neil would be found soon.

"I think so!" Nikki exclaims, putting her hands by her hips triumphantly. She turns to Max and whispers, "Not really. I just want a snack." The pantry is opened and the gang is met with a mess. Food is scattered on the ground, a ladder is lowered and a singular shoe is left next to an open jug of juice.

"Aha! I knew it would be in here." Nikki emerges back into frame with a chocolate bar in her hand. "Oh snap, did someone get murdered?" The mess only registered to Nikki after she took a glance at the floor.

"This is horrible." Gwen groans.

"There goes my award!" David doesn't sound like he deserves it if that's how he's going to respond to a potential camper death.

"Uh, more tent for me." Now that's just mean, Max.

"What are you guys looking at?" Neil asks. Everyone gasps, Nikki actually saying the word gasp.

"Neil, he lives!" Dolph exclaims in surprise, rounding the corner to peer into the pantry.

"Just as I knew the entire time!" David lies.

"Neil, what's taking so long? You said you were just gonna get more crackers." Yuni peeks through the opening in the floor to see everyone else looking back and forth between her and Neil.

"Yuni?! How long have you two been up there?!" David is just done for today. He completely forgot about a camper besides Neil. Now there's definitely no way he's going to get that award.

"We've been up there the whole time." Neil states, pointing to the hole in the ceiling.

"Mystery solved." Nikki seems displeased with this adventure's end.

"Mystery? We were just hanging out in the attic with the crackers and juice. Oh, my shoe." Neil picks up his shoe from the ground and puts it back on.

"Ze attic, of course! Amongst zhe juice! So crafty." Somehow with the accent, juice came out sounding like "Jews"...

"Wait, why were you two in the attic?" Max asks, watching Yuni climb down herself in only the tank top and her still drying pants.

"We were sharing journal entries. Talking, you know, attic stuff." Yuni responds, turning around to face the leader in blue.

"Yuni, you're a boy?" Max gives the camp newbie a look over. The long hairstyle and ambiguous voice threw him off.

"What the fuck? Of course not! I'm a girl!" Yuni gives Max an "are-you-serious" face, following his gaze to the source of his question. Yuni goes pink and scowls at the shorter boy. "Are you fucking kidding me? There were so many better ways you could've asked me!" She crosses her arms across her chest in embarrassment.

Max shakes his head to let go of the wrong thoughts before getting back to Neil. "Wait, so you write in a diary?

"NERD!" Nikki points in glee.

"...And this is why I write in the attic." Neil explains. Everyone mutters and nods in agreement. It was a pretty good reason.

Back in the main room of the mess hall, the committee members are huddled in a group, probably deciding who should get the award.

"Oh, this is a disaster!" David whines to Gwen, who couldn't care less.

"Good thing none of this matters." Gwen takes David's hands off her shoulders.

The committee members pull away to reveal a gold trophy of sorts. They seem to be showing it off to David.

Said counselor gasps. "Really?! For me?! Oh, I can't..." The cloaked visitors walk right past the practically glowing adult to present the award to Dolph. Attached to the trophy was a note.

"For finding ze missing camper, ve name you ze camp counselor of ze year. My goodness, zis is ze happiest day of mein life! High five! High five! High five! High five!" Dolph is carried away by the committee, offering a high five gesture that could honestly be taken for something _else_.

'I can't believe I lost to Dolph. He isn't even a counselor!' David thinks to himself.

'Plus he really looks like Hitler.' Nikki invades his thoughts with her own.

Better take a few steps away...

* * *

A/N: I put this chapter on hold only because I had NO ideas for it. It's just so _boring_ as a chapter that I wasn't motivated enough to finish it until now. So, sorry for another lack luster chapter, I'm afraid the next chapter to be, at the very least, decent enough to read is going to be "Into Town". For those who still choose to read this fanfic despite these inconveniences, thank you! And stick around for more!


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